What I Learned from Pike's Peak

When we rode the Manitou Springs Cog Railway, we were not cleared to go to the top of Pike's Peak due to high winds and snow. The danger was that wind could blow a snow drift in behind the train, trapping us at the top. As disappointing as it was not to have looked out from the crest and gotten a picture with the summit sign, we had no desire to get trapped on top of the mountain.

On our ride up to 12,500 feet, we learned several things about the area, the railway, and the mountain itself.

First of all, the man after whom Pike's Peak is named set out with an expedition to ascend to the top in November of 1806. However, due to conditions much worse than what we encountered (waist-deep snow, and without the right gear), he and his team had to turn back. The first Euro-American did not reach the pinnacle for almost a decade and a half. But because of the work he had done describing it, eventually the mountain became known as Pike's Peak.

Secondly, there are a lot of mountains in Colorado, what with that whole Rocky Mountain chain and all. Pike's Peak is not the tallest. It's not even in the Top 10. It is in 31st place. There are a whole thirty mountains taller than Pike's Peak in the state of Colorado, but you'd be hard-pressed to think of any that are more well-known.

Why is that?

Pike's Peak stands alone. It's not surrounded by other mountains. If you look at it from the satellite view, it dwarfs everything around it, including Garden of the Gods, other peaks, and Colorado Springs. It is visible for over a hundred miles from the east, across the plains of Kansas. This is why "Pike's Peak or Bust" was a famous gold-rush slogan; gold wasn't actually found near the Peak, but it was a landmark. It can be seen from Denver, and for miles around in every direction.

On the east side of the mountain, the view from what is now called "Inspiration Point" moved Katharine Lee Bates to write a poem she entitled appropriately "Pike's Peak" but which later was put to music and became a little song you might know as "America the Beautiful."

Pike's Peak has a mystique. It is host to a summit race wherein competitors speed up the 13 mile trail ascending 8000 feet to the top. A record of 2 hours, 8 minutes and change is held by Matt Carpenter; that's a consistent 10-minute mile under extreme conditions, even when the weather is "good..." In summer the average high temperature is in the high-40s, and there is only 60% oxygen compared to what those of us at lower elevations are accustomed.

All of this to say: You don't have to be the biggest (or best or most spectacular or superlative anything) to be the stuff of legends. You don't have to succeed in every endeavor to be remembered throughout history. Being set apart, true to yourself, uncompromising, naturally beautiful, trying and even failing, being who you are where you are... that is enough.

I need to contemplate this some more, but for now, that is the wisdom with which I walked away from Pike's Peak.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Incidentally, when I was fact-checking to make sure I remembered some of this correctly, Google's search parameters tried to wrong my right grammar...

Nope, Google. I meant "after whom." Look it up.